NEWS  FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO EAT ...and they're all grown here in the Inland Northwest.

Given the opportunity to see better, to delay or prevent Alzheimer’s, coronary disease or diabetes… would you take it? Diet is key to staying healthy and keeping chronic diseases at bay, so InHealth NW challenged me to choose five foods we should be eating.

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EXERCISE  It’s finally warm outside and time to get out those pretty glasses and whip up some fun, fruity drinks. But watch out. That cool beverage that goes down so sweetly could contain more than half of your daily caloric intake. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  With a new puppy romping around the White House, kids are bound to start asking whether it’s about time for their family to get a pet as well. Whether kids grow up on a farm filled with animals or in a city with a fish tank, animals are an important part of childhood. Read More>>

PARENTING  Nearly everyone with children has at some point wished their offspring came with an instruction manual. But for parents of children with ADHD, the need is especially acute. For 40 years, Spokane psychologist Robert Atwood witnessed families attempting to negotiate the chaos caused the disorder. Read More>>

55 PLUS  Gerry Boston isn’t good with faces. It’s not that she can’t remember them — her 85-year-old mind’s still razor sharp. It’s that she can’t see them. Her peripheral vision is fine, but the center is a muddled blur.

Her ability to recognize — and to read and to drive — has been impaired. She can’t even see her own face in the mirror. Read More>>

ALT MEDICINE  Loki trots slowly through a clearing of spring-growth trees, his caramel color shining against the backdrop of prairie fields and blue skies. His home at Westar Ranch is a picturesque landscape of 110 acres, with white picket fences and horses the color of honey and dark chocolate. Read More>>

GUEST COLUMN  Has it ever occurred to you that we may be looking at health care in this county in the wrong light? What if we viewed health care in the same light that we view education for our children? Read More>>

INNOVATION  It was in a grocery store one day when a stranger approached Katy’s mother in tears. The stranger — who somehow knew that Katy had lived for eight years with anorexia — wanted to know where she could get help for her own child who had an eating disorder. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  Like a paint-by-numbers picture, the Community Indicators Initiative of Spokane is an Eastern Washington University project to compile numbers about all sorts of things — from how often people around here use sports facilities to per-capita personal income — and assemble them to form a snapshot of the city. Sounds kind of boring, but the numbers actually paint a compelling picture.
So how are kids here doing? Could be better, it turns out. Fewer than half are considered healthy eaters or exercise as much as they should. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  It’s a now familiar sight: kids shielded in sunhats and coated with sunscreen before they venture outdoors. Parents have been warned to help children avoid tanning, and a sunburn is nearly akin to child abuse. But some experts say parents have gone overboard, and their efforts are inadvertently robbing kids of the health benefits of sunlight. More specifically, they worry that kids aren’t getting enough of the vitamin D their bodies produce when exposed to the sun. Read More>>

LIVING FEATURE  Just as children learn to clean their rooms and finish their homework, they need to establish healthy eating standards while they’re young. Habits, good and bad, become ingrained as children grow up. In fact, one of the best predictors of adult obesity is being overweight as a teenager. While just 25 percent of overweight preschoolers will remain heavy into adulthood, by the time kids are in high school, almost 75 percent of those who are overweight will remain heavy or obese as an adult. Read More>>

COOKING  It’s fitting that local film company North by Northwest chose Bordeaux on Broadway as their movie crew caterer. While Chef/Owner Justina Renoud has just made the “final edits” on her new restaurant, two blocks west of the Spokane courthouse, film crews on location in Spokane have been enjoying her healthy creations for months. Read More>>